


12 Days of Dasey - '16

by shyesplease



Category: Life with Derek
Genre: Christmas, F/M, Winter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-12
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-08 05:36:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 11,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8832439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shyesplease/pseuds/shyesplease
Summary: Counting down the days until Christmas (Derekus) with some Dasey goodness. Series of seasonal one-shots.





	1. Lame Party

“I should have known this party was going to be lame,” Derek murmured as he surveyed the apartment they had just entered – a classmate of Casey’s. There weren’t many people there, just a few small clusters of people gathered around talking, while holiday music played quietly in the background.

Casey rolled her eyes, ignoring Derek’s complaints. She hadn’t actually invited him to join her, but he had been at her dorm when she got the text and tagged along. And although the party wasn’t what she was expecting either (it resembled more or less a study group), it was still very festive. Plus, they were leaving for London the next morning for the Christmas holiday and that long journey could do without the hangovers you’d expect from a typical college party.

“Are they seriously whipping out _Candy Land_?” Derek whispered to her incredulously. “Seriously, Marti could have come to this party and had a ball,” he joked.

Casey turned fully to her stepbrother, hands on hips. “You can leave if you want, Derek,” she told him. “No one is forcing you to be here.”

His lips slid right into his renowned smirk. “Do you want me to leave?”

She knew what he was doing. If she said ‘yes,’ he’d stay in spite of her. If she said ‘no,’ then he’d tease her relentlessly for wanting his presence. “I don’t care what you do, Derek.”

He laughed, like he knew she would say that. Casey groaned internally. She hated how well he knew her.

“I’m gonna see if they have any good grub or drinks,” he said, already backing away to the presumed direction of the food table. “Don’t party too hard now,” he mocked with a wink before going into the next room.

Casey shook her head. Her stepbrother was too much for her to handle sometimes, and so rude!

“Casey!” she suddenly heard from behind her. She turned and saw Jenn, the girl who had invited her over, approaching her happily. “I’m so glad you could make it!”

Casey smiled back. Jenn was a really sweet girl, and very studious. She was a great study partner for their shared math class. “Thank you for inviting me,” she said politely.

“No problem,” Jenn let out. “We should catch up later, but right now I have food in the oven I have to look at,” she brought up, already turning to walk away. “But make yourself at home. There are plenty of games and music and movies and such to play!”

Casey nodded her head, watching her friend until she disappeared into the kitchen area. The oldest McDonald then looked around at the party-goers. There were a few that she recognized around campus, but no one that she ever talked to before.

Sighing, she mucked up enough courage to see what everyone was up to. One group actually was playing _Candy Land_ , but there were still heavily involved in their game with no room for new players just yet. Another group was gathered nearby, but they looked like they were made up entirely of the Sheldon Shlepper variety, so she kept her distance. The last group, while they looked friendly, were talking about Harry Potter, and while she had read the first few books and watched the movies, she hadn’t had the slightest clue as to what they were talking about in such great detail.

Consequently, Casey found herself being a wallflower.

“Bleh,” Derek let out as he walked up to her. “Your friends are serious prudes. There’s not even alcohol in this eggnog,” he complained, setting the drink down on a random surface nearby.

Casey sighed. “You were right, Derek,” she stated miserably, frowning. “This party is lame. With a capital L.”

Derek snorted, but then his eyes flickered above her head, momentarily distracted. “Hey, Case. Look,” he said, pointing to the green plant hanging above their heads.

“Derek, that’s-” she started but was cut off by the pressure of Derek’s lips on hers.

Knowing who was kissing her should have been enough to push him away, but oddly enough the feeling of his mouth on hers wasn’t at all off-putting as she thought it might have been. She kissed back, reveling in the feeling at a different level, loving how he maneuvered his lips over hers – a mixture between tender and ravenous.

After a minute, the pair separated but stayed close, breathing in each other’s air and cautiously looking into the other’s eyes.

“Derek, that wasn’t a mistletoe,” Casey softly pointed out, her breath still labored from her previous activity. “It’s holly.”

His eyebrows peaked and his eyes widened in genuine surprise. “Oh,” he breathed out, and if he wasn’t Derek Venturi she would have even said he looked mildly embarrassed.

“Yeah…” she lamely added, biting her lip as she looked behind his long lashes and into his magnetic brown eyes. “But I’m going to kiss you again anyway.”

Derek enthusiastically nodded, readily accepting her lips when she closed the small distance between them. This party may have been lame, but at least this wasn’t.


	2. Ski Fright

Casey shook her head, crossing her arms. “Nope, no way!” she adamantly protested.

Derek rolled his eyes. “Case, it’s not that big of a deal. It’s a hill.”

Her eyes grew wide. “A hill?!” she yelled incredulously, a huge white puff of her breath being thrown in his direction. “The mound thingy on a baseball field is a hill. That _thing_ ,” she said, pointing to the snow-covered, inclining landscape, “That thing is a _mountain_!”

“It’s perfectly safe. Would the resort really have a ski hill that was too dangerous?” Derek reasoned.

“It’s called DEATH MOUNTAIN!” she exclaimed outrageously, throwing her hands up.

“It’s just a marketing name,” Derek told her, prodding her in the direction of the lift. “I’m very sure no one has actually died going down this mountain. Now get on the lift! We’re holding up the line!”

Casey grinded her teeth, her eyes aflame as she reluctantly took her seat. “Derek, I swear, if I die, I am coming back to _haunt your ass_!”

“Love you too, Case,” he dryly let out as he sat down next to her, the lift immediately taking them up the mountain. Derek was having a lot of second thoughts about taking her skiing on their get-away weekend.

“At least the view before I die is pretty,” she morosely spoke, looking down at the snow-covered trees and the pretty mountain landscape.

The former hockey player sighed, before taking Casey’s hand in his. “Case, you’re not going to die. Would you really think I’d make you do something so dangerous?”

Casey peaked her one brow at him. “What about the time-”

“Besides anything I may have had you do in high school,” he interrupted. “Or those couple times in college…” he added as an afterthought. He shook his head. “I haven’t asked you to do anything dangerous since we’ve been together,” he added extra sweetly.

It was Casey’s turn to roll her eyes with a snort. “Yeah, you’re such a knight in shining armor,” she muttered dryly. “No wonder it took me nearly 6 years to figure that out.”

Smirking, Derek rubbed the back of her hand soothingly with his thumb. “Dangerous or not, I wouldn’t let anything happen to you. I’ve got you, McDonald.”

Casey shakily exhaled. “I know,” she admitted, sending him a wavering smile. “I’m just scared. I’m not good at this stuff.”

“You may be Klutzilla but you’re not going to die.”

She weakly laughed. “Comforting.”

They had reached the top and had to hop off the lift, where they followed an influx of other skiers to the edge of the slope to go down. Casey eyed the hill and could feel her fears refreshing; it wasn’t so much the length of the hill that was terrifying but the steepness of it.

“You ready?” Derek asked.

She mutely nodded, holding onto her skiing poles with a vice grip. “You go first.”

He nodded. “You’ll be fine,” Derek assured her once again before he propelled himself forward. “See you at the bottom!”

Casey bit her lip, looking at all the other people skiing down the hill carelessly. _You can do this_ , she thought internally, trying to bolster enough confidence to take the plunge. _You can do this._

Closely her eyes momentarily and letting out a huge breath, she pushed off her ski poles and felt herself accelerating down the hill.

Her adrenaline kicked in as she descended, the wind slapping against her face as she passed other skiers and vegetation. And before she knew it, she reached the bottom, where Derek stood waiting for her with a self-satisfied grin on his face.

“You know,” he began, his tone already teasing, “for a ghost, you look quite alive.”

She unwillingly smiled, not able to stop herself. “Shut up,” she said, playfully knocking into him as she stepped out of her ski blades.

He laughed, throwing his arm around her shoulders as they walked off the slope. “So how was it?”

“Actually,” she began, biting her lip unsurely, “it was AWESOME!”

Derek’s eyes broadened in surprise, not expecting that response. “Oh, really? After all that shit of you dying and whatnot?”

“I know, I know,” Casey admitted sheepishly. “But do you think we can go on it again though?” she asked, pointing to the line for the lift.

“Again? Really?” Derek asked, very amused by the turn of events.

“Yeah,” she said simply, sending him a weird smile. “Is that a problem?” she asked, laughing lightly as her bright blue eyes radiated up at him – weakening him.

Derek shook his head. “No, no problem.”

“You’re the best!” she cheered, leaning up to kiss him briefly before giddily joining the line.


	3. Present Ruckus

Derek opened his bedroom door slowly but only wide enough to look out to survey the hallway. Looking into the muted lightness of the area, Derek didn't see nor hear a soul moving around the house – which was expected, considering it was nearly 2am and technically Christmas.

The oldest Venturi then left the confines of his bedroom and tip-toed his way to the stairs. At the top, he listened further, making sure Nora and his dad weren't still up wrapping last minute presents or talking. When he still didn't hear anything, he considered himself safe and ventured down the steps.

Halfway down the stairs he saw it. There, besides the TV, stood the Christmas tree. Its colorful lights were still illuminating the darkened living room, making it easier for "Santa" to see and place the presents under, and by the looks of it, Santa had already paid his visit. Derek rubbed his hands together in excitement.

He quickly walked down the rest of the stairs, hurrying to the tree to inspect the presents and try to find his own. But Derek raised a troubled eyebrow when none of the presents were labeled with his name.

Scratching his head, Derek looked around the room, wondering if his dad placed his presents somewhere else for a change to try and deter his annual, premature gift-opening. He quickly searched the entirety of the first floor, but still came up with nothing. The only alternatives were downstairs in the basement or they just didn't get him anything this year.

Sighing, Derek took a defeated seat on the couch. He reached out to grab the leftover cookies and downed them with the remaining milk.

Derek didn't even know why he continued to carry on the tradition. The first time he did it, it was an act of rebellion after his parent's divorce. But Derek guessed the anticipation of knowing what he got must have been too much to resist after that, especially when he realized that Santa wasn't real and no one was watching the presents to stop him.

Just as he was about to give up and head back to bed, a glint under the tree caught Derek's eye.

The hockey player scurried over to the tree again, now getting down on the ground to get level with the gleam that caught his eye. It was a box, wrapped in shiny red wrapping paper, forced all the way in the back.

Derek pushed the presents of his family to the side and, lo and behold, his name was on it. He grinned wickedly as he reached out for it, but as he pulled, it felt stuck. He tugged on it again, harder this time and was finally able to free it from its stubborn position.

However just as he pulled it free, he heard a click and then what sounded like a marble rolling across a surface, followed shortly by another click sound. And before he could comprehend what was happening, the television along with the stereo both turned on, cracked to the maximum volume.

Derek dropped his present in an effort to save his ears from bursting. In a frenzy, he searched the living room for the remotes, but came up short. It was only when the living room lights turned on and a group of angry, tired faces glared at him did he find them right on his recliner.

"Derek!" his father hollered, after taking the remotes and shutting off the offensive noises. "What the hell are you doing?! It's late!"

"I-I don't know how that happened," Derek answered, "I didn't do it. Why would I?"

George, along with everyone else in the family, sent him looks of disbelief. "I can't say that doing idiotic, pointless things is unusual for you, son."

Derek reluctantly nodded, understanding where his dad was coming from. "Maybe I just sat on the remotes or something," Derek fibbed, realizing now that telling the truth wasn't going to resolve this.

Nora sighed, wiping at her tired eyes. "Alright, just – just don't do it again," she insisted. Derek instantly complied. "Good. Now everyone back to bed," she lightly commanded, already making her way back to the basement with his dad in tow.

Derek let out a relieved breath. His heart had been hammering ever since the television and stereo went off; was it some type of ghostly shit or what?

"You didn't sit on the remotes," he then heard a voice say. He turned to see Casey standing at the bottom of the steps, her arms crossed.

"Yes, I did," he stressed, stepping to the side to get around her, but she only stepped in his way.

"No, you didn't," she stated cockily, her lips twisted into a sadistic grin. "You were trying to open your Christmas presents."

Derek shook his head, trying to laugh it off. "No, I wasn't. That's childish stuff."

Casey snorted. "So you're admitting that for the last 5 years that our families have been joined that you've been a child?"

He glared at her. "I wasn't trying to open my presents."

"Well that's weird then," Casey started, her voice filled with false nonchalance, "since I'm the one that rigged your gifts into turning on the television and stereo…" she finished with a modest shrug.

"You booby trapped my Christmas presents?!" Derek whisper yelled in astonishment.

"Yes, because you do it every year!" she quietly hollered right back. "You ruin the fun of Christmas morning," she explained with an irritated pout and small stomp.

Derek fell back onto the balls of his feet, taking a second to let the situation sink in and settle in his brain to comprehend.

"I can't believe I'm about to say this but," he started, pausing to pinch the bridge of his nose. "I'm oddly proud of you right now."

Casey instantly beamed, clapping her hands together. "Oooh, really?" she asked excitedly, and the feeling instantly diminished.

"Nope," he deadpanned, walking around her to go back up the stairs. "I take it back."

She huffed, following closely behind him. "You can't take it back – no takesie backsies!"

"What are we, 5?" Derek asked, cackling. "And I thought you said _I_ was the child."

"You are the child," she vowed. "I pranked you good and you just won't admit it!"

Derek sighed dramatically. "Fine, good job, you did it," he said unenthusiastically, rolling his eyes. "But that's all you're getting out of me. That's your Christmas present now, so don't be expecting anything else."

Casey then got this weird gleam in her eyes as she looked at him, her smile slow and a tad bashful. "I think I can live with that," she spoke softly, her voice almost a breathy whisper, before she slipped into her room without another word.

Derek confusingly watched her go – her behavior throwing him for a loop. He shook his head. That girl was crazy, but not in an entirely bad way.


	4. Waiting on Santa

Casey drowsily walked out of her bedroom in the middle of the night, all intentions to just go to the bathroom. However, when she walked out she nearly tripped over someone’s leg, but luckily caught the wall nearby, preventing a surely bruising fall.

“Case?” she heard someone sleepily call out to her.

After righting herself, she turned to the person. It was Derek, of course, and he was sitting between her and his bedroom doors with Marti, who was curled up into a ball besides him sleeping.

“Der-ek!” she whispered shouted. “What are you doing? You nearly killed me.”

He rolled his eyes at her exaggeration, knowing it was purely an embellishment. “Marti wanted to stay up for Santa,” he simply reasoned, shrugging. “She wanted to stay near the steps, but not at the steps, so that Santa wouldn’t see us, but we could hear him.”

Casey crossed her arms, but her anger at Derek was quickly dissolving. “Derek Venturi, you are a big softy,” she lightly teased.

He lightly groaned, but didn’t refute it.

“Why don’t you take her to her room?” Casey suggested, seeing now how tired Derek must have been, especially sleeping the way he was. “She’s sleeping.”

Derek let out a noise that sounded like a hybrid of a chuckle and snort. “Tried,” he told Casey. “I got her all the way into her bed before she woke up and then yelled at me,” he recounted the event. “Apparently, I’m the one who is supposed to stay up, and then wake her if I hear Santa,” Derek said with an eye roll, but he still looked down at his little sister fondly.

Casey couldn’t help but smile. Derek may be selfish and arrogant most of the time, but he still could be incredibly sweet too. “Are our parents going to tell her about Santa soon? She’s getting a little old,” Casey questioned, bending down to join him on the floor.

“I think they said after this year they would tell her,” Derek answered. “I think my dad hasn’t yet because me and Edwin both found out so young. He was just happy to have one kid believe for this long.”

“How young were you guys?” she wondered curiously.

Derek thought back. “I was 5, and I think Edwin found out when he was around 6.”

Casey’s eyes bulged. “Wow,” she breathed out in disbelief. “How did you find out?”

The oldest Venturi cracked a grin. “I snuck downstairs to steal a cookie, because my mom wouldn’t let us have any before Santa did, and I walked right down just as my dad was putting presents under the tree. He wasn’t very good at denying it either.”

Casey let out a quiet laugh, shaking her head. She could just picture it clearly, George panicking about what to say and not making the situation any better no matter what he did.

“You?” Derek queried. “How did you find out?”

“I was 9 and had gotten in trouble at school,” she began, which caused Derek to fake gasp. She slapped him lightly on the arm, but smiled nonetheless at his antics. “Anyway, there had been this girl in my class that had been going around telling everyone Santa wasn’t real, and I ended up having this huge screaming match with her, telling her she was wrong,” she remembered with a chuckle. “After I got sent home, my mom told me the truth to prevent any other instances. I was devastated.”

“So even when you were little you were dramatic,” he teased. “Fitting.”

She playfully glared at him. “Hey, watch it.”

“Or what?” he taunted, smirking at her. “You gonna break up with me? I think you like me too much to do that,” he boasted proudly. “Not that I blame you.”

Casey rolled her eyes. “Don’t flatter yourself,” she said, but laid her head down on his shoulder.

The action amused Derek. “Oh, I see. You only keep me around to be a pillow.”

“Mhmm,” she hummed out, closing her eyes.

His eyes softened as he felt her ease against him. “Go back to sleep,” he encouraged her, his voice oddly gentle.

“No,” she persisted, wrapping her arms securely around his. “I’m fine. I missed cuddling you at night,” she drowsily admitted.

“See,” Derek pointed out. “You like me too much. You can’t get enough of me.”

Casey’s eyes flickered up to his. “And are you just staying around for my benefit then, or is this a mutual thing?” she sarcastically questioned.

Derek puckered his lips in thought. “Well…” he began, “yeah, I guess it’s kinda mutual,” he said, winking at her.

“Good,” she stated, picking her head up from his shoulder to give him a light kiss.

When she made to pull away, Derek quickly cupped her face, keeping her close. “You missed the cuddling, I missed this,” he said right before lowering his lips back onto hers.

It’s not like they didn’t find opportunities to steal a kiss here or there, but with a house as filled as theirs and everyone wanting their attention since they were home for holiday break, it was a lot less frequent than Derek would have liked.

They continued to kiss languidly, enjoying the quietness of the night and the solitude that came with it, when “Smer-ek!”

The two ripped away from each other in surprise. They then turned to the pre-teen next to them, who was not happy.

“Smerek, how are you supposed to be hearing out for Santa when you are kissing Casey?” Marti insisted, crossing her arms stubbornly.

“I can multitask?” Derek weakly tried, but his little sister only glared. “I’m sorry, Smarti,” he said more honestly. “But it’s late, and either Santa already came and went without us knowing or he’s not coming until we’re in our beds.”

Marti’s eyes widened. “He might not come if we aren’t in our beds?” she asked fearfully. She scrambled to get up. “Goodnight!”

The two oldest chuckled at the retreating form of Marti, until Derek ended it with a groan. “I should have thought to say that hours ago,” he mumbled tiredly in his hands.

Casey patted his leg assuringly. “Well, we still have a couple hours before morning,” she optimistically pointed out as she got up from the floor. “Might as well make the most of it,” she said, turning to go back into her room

Derek quickly jumped to his feet, grabbing for her hand to hold her back. Casey turned to her boyfriend confusingly. “What?” she asked.

He nodded his head towards his door. “You said you missed cuddling me. Come to my room.”

“Derek…”

“If I said I missed it too, would you?” he asked, staring intently into her eyes, even having the audacity to jut his lip out in a pout.

Casey bit her lip, but ultimately the battle was lost before it was even started. “Fine,” she relented, which caused Derek to smirk. “You better hope George and my mom don’t find out about this though.”

“Case, stop worrying,” he said, a self-satisfied grin plastered on his face. “You gotta live a little dangerously,” he then added as he opened his bedroom door and guided his girlfriend in.


	5. For the Love of Cookies

"Arghhhhh," Casey let out frustratingly, letting the sheet pan drop from her hand to the counter with a loud clatter.

Cautiously, Derek entered the kitchen to see his wife in a state of distress. "You burn another batch?" he guessed, though he already knew the answer as he noticed the burnt cookies on the counter.

"Yes…" Casey mumbled miserably, pouting. "It has to be that stupid oven!" she surmised, tears beginning to fall down her face. "It cooks faster than it's supposed to."

Derek cringed at the sight of her tears, but walked up to her anyway, letting her dissolve herself in his arms as he rubbed his hands over her back comfortingly. "It's gonna be okay, Case."

He'd usually say she was being dramatic, but this had been the 5th batch of cookies she had burnt that morning. The others had at least been somewhat edible, but by looking at the new rejects, they might as well have been his hockey pucks since they were pitch black. It also didn't help that she was 7 months pregnant and her hormones were running very high.

She leaned back in his embrace, her eyes swollen and red from crying. "There's not enough time to make any more," she pointed out, sniffing.

"We can just go to the store first and buy some there," Derek suggested.

"But they'll know it's store-bought."

"We're only going to our parents', not the Prime Minister's," Derek reasoned. "And all Venturi's care about is food. We don't care where it came from or who made it."

Casey's gloomy resolve fractured enough to let out a miniscule giggle. Knowing how insatiable the Venturi's appetite was knew no bounds.

"I guess," she softly agreed.

…

"Caseyyyyy," Derek whined. "Just pick one!" he exclaimed. His annoyance level had hit his maximum. They had been standing in the bakery section of the store for almost 20 minutes while Casey debated over all the options.

Casey turned to her husband, hands on hips. "But which one?" she wondered aloud. "There are so many to choose from. They have sugar, oatmeal, snickerdoodle, and chocolate chip. Then they have ones that are sprinkled or frosted."

Derek picked up a box of chocolate chip cookies. "What about these?"

Casey looked at them for a moment to only shake her head at them. "They don't look festive enough."

"Festive?" Derek deadpanned. "They're not going to be festive at all when we eat them."

The former McDonald rolled her eyes at her husband. "It's Christmas, Der-ek. We should get something that looks like Christmas."

Mumbling extremities under his breath, Derek picked up another box of cookies. "What about this?" he asked, holding up a box of sugar cookies that were cut out in the shape of Santa and sprinkled with both red and green. "This _festive_ enough for you?"

"Now you're just being rude," she pointed out. _"You aren't helping_!" she stressed.

Derek threw his hands up. "Because they're cookies! It doesn't matter what cookies we get. No one is going to care. They'll get eaten!"

Casey snorted. "You obviously don't know our family," she insisted. "Ed doesn't like frosting on his cookies, but Marti loves it. Simon likes a lot of chocolate chips whereas George only likes his to have a little. And Lizzie, Lizzie only eats organic sweets."

The former hockey player rolled his eyes. "I say we pick up whatever and who ever likes it, eats it. If they don't, too bad," Derek said, picking up a random box and beginning to walk away.

"Der-ek!" Casey hollered, gaining the attention of some of the immediate store goers. "You can't be so ignorant!"

"Cas-ey!" he copied. "You're acting like we're the only people bringing dessert. Everyone is bringing something. It'll be okay if one or two people don't eat it."

"Maybe we shouldn't get cookies," Casey thought out loud, ignoring what Derek just said. "Maybe we should get brownies or, oh, maybe we should get a cake!" she suggested excitedly, already moving their cart over to that part of the bakery. "But chocolate or vanilla cake? Or marble? And what about icing?" she stopped her inane ramblings to turn back to Derek who hadn't moved a budge. "Der, are you coming or what? I need your input."

…

"Merry Christmas!" their whole family chanted as they greeted the couple at the door.

Derek and Casey both ushered in to get out of the Canadian cold and let various members of their family give them warm hugs.

"What took you guys so long?" Nora then asked Derek after giving him a hug. "Casey texted me an hour ago that you were leaving, and you only live 10 minutes away."

Derek gave Casey a side-long glance, but plastered a fake grin on his face. "Traffic," he fibbed a tad forcefully, moving to get pass the herd. However as he walked by Nora, he paused and whispered in her ear. "But for the love of God, never ask your daughter to bring anything to dinner _ever again_."


	6. Grow A Boyfriend

"Here you go, Derek," Edwin said, passing him his last gift for the morning.

It was rectangular box, usually the kind clothes were put in. Derek internally groaned. He wasn't exactly excited at the possibility of a new pair of slacks or a dress shirt he most likely would never wear. Looking at the tag though, he saw it was from Casey.

Curious as to what the keener got him, he ripped off the wrapping paper and tugged off the lid in record time to find a Leafs shirt. "Sweet!" Derek immediately exclaimed, taking the article out, holding it up to get a better look at it. "This is awesome!"

"You said you really like their latest t-shirt design so…" Casey helpfully supplied, shrugging.

"Yeah," Derek said, still admiring the shirt. "Thanks, Case," he said, making sure to send her a grateful smile. She gave him a serene smile back.

"Here's mine," Derek said, reaching down to grab her gift and throwing it to her.

Casey barely caught it, but luckily didn't drop it. She wanted to yell at the eldest Venturi child, but nevertheless decided to keep it to herself for the sake of Christmas.

She looked at the box perplexedly. It was relatively small – about the size of her cellphone. It was also very light.

She carefully opened the hazardous wrap job – for something so small, it seemed to be wrapped entirely by tape. However, that also indicated that Derek wrapped the little present himself, which caused the young adult to smile internally. Popping the lid of the small container, she was struck confused.

"What is this?" she questioned, holding up the little, plushy man.

Derek cackled. "It's a 'grow your own boyfriend'," he answered. "I thought you could use the help," he added, smirking deviously at her.

Next to him, Edwin join in his laughter. "Good one, bro."

"Derek," George started to repemend, but Casey stopped him.

"Der-ek!" she hollered, "You are so immature," she continued, trying to keep herself calm and steady, but she could feel her eyes welling, betraying her. "Urghh," she let out frustratingly, chucking his 'gift' back at him before fleeing up the stairs.

She could still hear the Venturi's boys' laughter as she slammed her bedroom door shut.

…

An hour later, a knock was heard softly on her door.

"Go away," she yelled from the safety of her bed.

"Case," she heard from the other side of the door. "Just open up. This is ridiculous."

Her eyes widened. "Ridiculous?!" she repeated, appalled. She got up from her bed to stand by her door. "Your gift was ridiculous! Could you not honestly buy me something so mean-spirited?"

She heard him heavily sigh. "It was a joke. You weren't supposed to take it seriously," he defended.

"Well obviously I did," she commented, and she swore she heard him snort.

"Just open the damn door," he told her, his tone tiring.

She huffed. "Why should I?"

"Because your…" he trailed off, pausing, "because your boyfriend," he said quietly, "wants to give you your actual gift."

Casey's one eyebrow peeked in confusion. "What?" she questioned as she opened the door. "What are you talking about?" she further asked, surveying Derek for any deception.

"Can I come in first?" Derek asked, motioning to her room.

The oldest McDonald child sighed, but let him move pass her and into the bedroom. She then shut the door, knowing they needed some privacy.

"Well?" Casey spoke, crossing her arms defensively as she regarded her boyfriend.

Derek wordlessly handed her an envelope, which she took curiously but eyed it warily.

The hockey player rolled his eyes. "It's not a bomb, Case. It's safe to open."

She stuck her tongue out at him, but made to open the envelope. Upon opening it, Casey gasped. "Der," she let out softly. "You got tickets to that play I wanted to see."

The Venturi boy nodded. "I didn't want to give you that in front of everyone, since it would've raised some eyebrows and we haven't told anyone about us yet," he began to explain. "So in the spur of the moment, I got that gag gift. I didn't mean to upset you."

Casey let out a hollow chuckle. "I just thought you didn't care," she admitted sadly, taking a seat on the foot of her bed. "I mean, it's our first Christmas together as a couple, and I had really tried to get you something I knew you would like, and it just looked like I was another joke."

Derek sat down next to her, snaking an arm around her waist, holding her. "You have to know I don't want to hurt you," he expressed softly. "I was just lessening the suspicion."

"You can do that without making me the butt of the joke, no?"

Derek cocked his head to the side, pretending to think. "I don't know," he joked smirking. "You make it so easy sometimes."

"Der-ek!" she playfully hollered, elbowing him lightly. He only chuckled.

"So…" he started, trailing off as he watched her, gauging her facial expression. "Are we good?"

"I don't know," she said dramatically, copying Derek from earlier. "The 'grow a boyfriend' is looking like a good option right about now…"

His eyebrows raised as he smirked at her amusingly. "Oh, you've got jokes, I see," he commented. "But can he do this?" he asked just before he kissed her.

Casey's immediately responded, letting her arms wrap around his shoulders and her hands tangle in his hair. Her tongue poked at his lips and he immediately obliged, easily invited her into his mouth where their tongues curled over the other's.

"No, no I don't think he can do that," Casey answered Derek's previous question breathily, still on a high from their kiss.

Derek winked at her. "Damn right," he boasted then swept down for another.


	7. Sled Ride

"Come on, Casey!" Marti hollered, holding up her sled excitedly.

The whole McDonald- Venturi family were at the park on a winter afternoon. It had been the only place nearby that had a hill big enough for Marti to test out her new sled. The other kids had brought theirs too, deciding to make it a fun afternoon, except for Casey, of course.

"I don't have a sled, Marti," Casey told her, taking a seat on the picnic bench with their parents, sipping on hot chocolate that Nora had brought in a thermos.

Marti frowned, but noticing Derek coming back up to the top, she had an idea. "Go down with Smerek!" she insisted.

"There's not going to be enough room, Marti."

"Not enough room for what?" Derek asked, joining his family at the bench. He reached down and stole the hot chocolate cup from Casey's hands to take a much needed sip. She glared up at him, but didn't otherwise argue.

"Marti wants me to go down the hill, but I don't have a sled, so she wants me to go down with you," she explained. "Tell her that we both won't fit."

Derek shrugged. "Of course you will. It'll be fine."

Casey's eyes widened. "Der-ek!"

He snickered, but grabbed for her hand to pull her up. "Oh, just do it once and Marti will shut up."

The eldest McDonald child sighed, but reluctantly nodded, following Derek and Marti to the edge of the hill.

Marti immediately took off, blazing down the hill without a care, while Derek sat on his sled, waiting for Casey. "Come on, Case," he said, patting the sled. "Hop on."

Making a displeased face, Casey awkwardly got on the sled. "It's so cramped," she complained. "I'm right on top of you."

Derek snorted. "Case, we've been closer than this," he pointed out, smirking.

Casey blushed before smacking his leg lightly. "That's different," she hushed out, embarrassed.

The Venturi rolled his eyes. "If it makes you feel better, think of it as like we're cuddling."

"You mean groping," Casey quickly amended. "You don't cuddle without groping something."

Derek wickedly grinned. "Is it so bad that I find my girlfriend hot?" he asked modestly.

She shook her head, not dignifying that with an answer. "Can we just go down already? I'm freezing."

"Whatever, princess," he said, and then propelled them forward.

However towards the end of the hill, Casey saw a stray rock up ahead. "Derek! Derek turn," she hollered, frantically patting him on the leg in a frenzy.

Derek looked over her shoulder to see what all the commotion was just in time to see the rock and swerve. Consequently, the maneuver caused them to tip over and roll down the remaining few feet of the hill, leaving Derek on top of Casey once they stopped.

"This is why I don't like sledding," Casey mumbled to herself miserably, pouting.

Derek chuckled, looking down at his girlfriend. "Stop being dramatic," he said before swooping in to give her a kiss.

Despite her foul mood, Casey couldn't refuse the way his lips felt against hers. She immediately wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer, wanting and needing the warmth that came from him being so close.

Running out of breath, Casey pulled away, her eyes hooded and dazed from the kiss.

"Hey, Case," Derek whispered into her ear, lightly nibbling on it. Casey let out a small moan in response. "You have to carry the sled back up," he said regularly, jumping up from his position and running up the hill without her.

Shaking her head and realizing what just happened, Casey got up from the snow-covered ground peeved. "DER-EK!"


	8. Cold Tongue

Derek and Casey were at the bus station near Kingston, waiting for the noon bus to London. However, due to the increasing amount of snow falling around them, their bus kept getting delayed.

“Urghh,” Derek huffed out after noticing their expected time had been pushed back another 20 minutes. They had already been there over an hour. “Why can’t we just take the Prince back?” he complained, kicking at the gathering snow by his feet.

“Because the Prince doesn’t have 4-wheel drive and will probably break down on the way home,” Casey stated matter-of-factly. She had already told him this the other day when he suggested it. The bus was the safest way for them to travel home for the holidays.

“This is ridiculous though,” Derek said, gesturing to the ticker hanging above their heads that indicated the arrival times. “At this point, we’re never going to get home.”

Casey rolled her eyes, never taking her attention off her book. “You just have to be patient,” she told him, flipping to another page.

Derek snorted as he paced the platform, trying to find something to do. The bus station was literally in the middle of nowhere. There weren’t any stores or cafes of the like to kill time at, nor was there anyone else around besides Casey to talk to, and she was pointedly avoiding him after they had a fight the other day.

“Hey, Case,” he called out to her. She ignored him. “Caseyyy,” he tried again. Still nothing. “What would happen if I put my tongue to the pole?”

“Don’t,” she dryly said, turning a page.

“But what would happen?” he questioned, twirling around a pole.

Casey sighed, peeved. “Your tongue would get stuck to the pole, obviously.”

“Like in _A Christmas Story_?” he asked, eyeing the pole curiously.

“ _Yes_ ,” Casey said shortly. “Now be quiet,” she demanded. “I’m trying to read.”

Derek rolled his eyes and continued to study the pole. He surely wouldn’t stick to it if he gave it quick lick, right?

“ACE!” he hollered out as best as he could. “ACEY!” he tried again when she didn’t look up. “ACEY!!”

“Derek, I told you to be-,” she started, but her eyes blew open once she saw the scene in front of her. “DER-EK! I told you not to do that!” she hollered, running up to him, the tip of his tongue fixed to the pole.

“I fought wew err idding,” he spoke, almost gibberish because he couldn’t use his tongue.

“Why would I be kidding?” Casey hollered, letting a worried hand rest on her forehead as she tried to figure out what to do. “Derek, I’m going to have to call an ambulance.”

“Ahbulance?!” he shrieked, eyes wide open in panic.

“Yes, genius,” she yelled with a snuff. “How else are you planning to get your tongue back?” she sarcastically asked, whipping out her phone to call.

He made a show of trying to pull his tongue off.

“Don’t try to rip it off either, or you won’t have a tongue at all,” she pointedly told him, causing the Venturi to cower in fear. _What the hell had he done to himself?_

Casey then held up a hand, signally for him to be quiet as she talked to whoever answered the emergency line. “Yes, hi, I’m at the Kingston Bus Station and my stepbrother got his tongue stuck to a pole…”

…

After a firetruck came to their rescue, pouring hot water over Derek’s tongue and the pole, the hockey player was freed relatively unscathed. One of the firemen had told him he was lucky it wasn’t too bad, or he would have had to be taken to the hospital. He shuttered, oddly thankful that his tongue was just sore and numb.

“Just wanted to let you know that we just got on the bus to home,” Casey said into her cell phone. It had been 2 hours later and they had just gotten a bus, their original one coming and going while the firefighters worked on releasing them.

“There were a lot of delays and… _hiccups_ ,” Casey told her mother, glancing knowingly at Derek who merely frowned. “But we should be home in about 5 hours.”

Casey then shut her phone after saying goodbye to Nora. “I didn’t tell them – yet – but they’re going to find out one way or another,” she told him.

“Waiting,” he merely stated, it was still weird to talk.

Casey rolled her eyes. “I told you not to stick your tongue on the pole, and yet you did it? What goes through your mind?!”

Derek shrugged helplessly. “You weren’t tawlking,” he said.

The oldest McDonald child snorted. “So every time I don’t talk to you, you’re going to do something stupid?” she asked, her voice getting angry, attracting some of their neighbor’s attention. “What’s next? Jumping off a bridge?”

He shook his head angrily, refuting that he would be _that_ stupid.

“This is all your fault you know,” she pointed out. “I would have been talking to you if you had just talked to me about that kiss like a mature adult.”

Derek’s eyes bulged at the topic on hand.

“But no,” she said, glowering at him, “you just ignored it, pretended it didn’t happen, refused to talk to me about it!” She was getting hysterical. “ _You_ were the one who kissed _me_!”

“Ah know!” he let out, slightly muted by his numb tongue. “ah know,” he repeated, softer. “Ah ike ew,” he confessed.

“You like me?” she asked, her lips curving towards a smile by the second. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

He sighed, closing his eyes. “Scared,” he said simply.

Casey face pinched inwards. “Scared?” she asked, her demeanor suddenly a lot calmer as she regarded him. “Scared of what?”

“Famwee,” he told her honestly.

Casey took in a deep breath. “Yeah, I’m scared what the family would think of that too…” she admitted, looking down at her lap.

Boldly, Derek reached for to grab her hand with his. The action caused his stepsister to look at him both puzzlingly and curiously. “Try?”

“Try us?” she questioned. Derek nodded, his eyes gazing at hers imploringly. “Yeah, I think we can do that,” she said, squeezing his hand.

Derek smirked and leaned down to kiss Casey, but immediately snapped his head back.

Casey chuckled at his reaction. “It hurt to kiss?” He nodded fervently, a frown back on his face. “Well maybe now you’ll listen to me when I tell you not to do things,” she told him sternly.

She then continued to lecture him, talking all about the science of why what happened to him happened to him and the reasons he should listen to her more. Meanwhile, he repeatedly knocked his head against the bus window. _What the hell had he done to himself?_


	9. So Much for Waiting

"So," Casey started, fumbling nervously with her hands. "We're going to tell the family tonight?" she asked, confirming the details with Derek.

Derek blew out a nervous breath, nodding. "I think so, yeah…"

She bit her lip. "Actually, I don't think I can do this," she let out worriedly, beginning to pace the length of the hallway as the negative thoughts flushed through her mind. "What if they hate us? What if they throw us out of the house? We'll be cold and hungry and poor. Then one of us will get a life-threatening disease and die, making our declaration and sacrifice mean nothing in the end!" she carried on hysterically.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa there, Casey," Derek said, holding her firmly by the shoulders. "I think you've seen one too many _Lifetime_ movies. None of that is going to happen," he assured her. He leaned down to kiss her lightly on the lips, across her jaw, trying to sooth her. "Everything is going to be okay," he whispered into her ear.

Her mom then rounded the corner and Casey instinctively pushed Derek away. "Ew, Der-ek!" she hollered, wiping at her face. "Mom, Derek gave me a wet willy!"

Nora rolled her eyes at the duo. "Derek, behave," she said tiredly. "In fact, can both of you behave? You two are almost college graduates, I shouldn't have to be telling you to stop carrying on like a pack of 1st graders."

Casey solemnly nodded her head. "I'm sorry, mom. We'll try better."

When Derek merely stood there, Casey elbowed him lightly in the stomach. "Right, right. Yeah, sorry. What she said," he said a lot less genuinely than his stepsister did.

Nora shook her head at their antics. "I don't know how you two have managed to be each other's roommate for the past 4 years and haven't burned the place down with your fighting," she commented, though more to herself.

The duo apprehensively fidgeted, but remained silent.

"What are you guys doing up here anyway?" she asked, hands on hips. "We have guests downstairs. Aunt Madge just showed up too – she's been asking for you, Derek."

Derek grinned tightly. "Great," he stretched the word out, not at all looking forward to seeing his aunt, at least until he could get steel implants for his cheeks.

"Go on," Nora said, nodding to the steps. The Queen students sighed, but followed Nora's instructions reluctantly.

…

"When are we going to tell them?" Casey asked after they had snuck off to a secluded corner, hiding from relatives they had been forced to socialize with for the past hour.

Derek shrugged, stuffing his face with the cookies on the table by them. "Why don't we wait until the excess people leave," he suggested. "I want to tell the fam, but I'd rather not be gossip for Icky Vicky and Fiona."

"Good point," Casey admitted, nodding favorably to his logic. "Hey," she started, lightly touching his forearm to gain his attention, "is Aunt Madge okay? She looks like she's been hitting the liquor quite hard this year…"

Derek looked over to where his Aunt was, congoing around the Christmas tree, alone but merrily. He raised a perturbed eyebrow at the scene. "I don't know…" he let warily. "But now that you mention it, her cheek pinching was a bit more aggressive," he noted, rubbing his still tender cheeks. "But she looks like she's having a ball. I don't think we have to worry about her."

Casey nodding, trusting her boyfriend's judgement.

They were then thrusted back into repetitive conversations with their aunts, uncles, etc, asking them about school, their plans after college, and whether they had been dating anyone. They were luckily saved when George's voice yelled from the table that dinner was ready.

As the couple walked to the elongated table, they looked at each other unsurely.

"Are we sitting together?" Casey whispered.

Derek shrugged. "I don't know. We usually don't, so no?"

"You don't want to sit next to me?" she asked, frowning.

Derek rolled his eyes. "I don't care what we do. We just usually don't. I don't want anyone to think anything is up though," he clarified. "But I'm sitting here," he said, plopping himself down in a seat closest to the turkey. "Sit wherever you want."

Casey pouted further, torn to where to sit. She went to walk over to sit on the far end, but at the last moment changed her mind to go to the seat next to Derek, but then stopped before sitting there too. Her mind was still frazzled with how each action she took could be perceived.

"Oh my God, Casey!" Derek bellowed. "Just pick a damn seat!" he hollered.

She huffed, hands on hips. "Don't tell me what to do, Derek," she said, before sitting down next to him.

"Guys," Nora spoke up, her tone disapproving. "I thought we were going to try and behave…" she reminded them.

George snorted. "Nora that would take a Christmas miracle," he joked, causing many of the family members to laugh.

"The real Christmas miracle would be those two to stop pretending to be just roommates," Aunt Madge hiccupped, pointing to the two of them with a wobbly finger. "They've been together for years now, right kids?" she said, smiling sweetly through her drunken spiel.

Their whole family then looked at the two of them with questioning looks on their faces. The couple couldn't help but shrink in their chairs, turning pink under their gazes.

_So much for waiting._


	10. Long Night

“Case,” Derek whispered, kneeling by her bedside. “Case,” he tried again when she didn’t wake. “Case-y,” he softly hollered, nudging her.

The former dancer woke with a start, heart racing from being woken up so abruptly. “Derek?” she let out confusingly, rubbing at her eyes, trying to stay awake.

“Oh, good, you’re awake,” Derek said, as if he hadn’t just woke her up himself. “I need your help,” he then said flippantly, grinning sweetly at her.

Casey groaned. “What could you possibly need at…” she paused to view the time, “ _2 o’clock_ in the morning?”

“Have I ever told you how beautiful your bed-nested hair is?” Derek said, reaching out to run a strand through his fingers.

“Yeah,” she said pointedly, swatting his hand away. “You told me the _last time_ you woke me up in the middle of the night to fix something you did. So, Derek, what did you do this time?”

Derek’s sweet grin faltered. “Well, I was about to put the kids’ presents out, like you asked me to,” he started. “But then I couldn’t find them…” he told her hesitantly, wincing.

Casey’s eyes thinned and her jaw locked. “You can’t find the presents?” she asked eerily calm, but Derek knew she was livid. “Derek!” she hollered, getting up from the bed. “How could you have misplaced the presents?!”

Derek scratched the back of his head. “I was trying to find a sport Mikey wouldn’t find them, because he’s always trying to get his hands on them…”

Casey snorted. “I wonder where he gets that from?” she interrupted sardonically, putting on a robe.

Rolling his eyes at his wife, he continued, “So, I must have placed them some place that even I wouldn’t’ have looked…”

Casey let out an exasperated sigh. ‘This is the last time you are hiding the presents,” Casey told him, walking out of the bedroom. “Now where have you looked?” she asked.

“Everywhere!” Derek exasperated.

“If you searched everywhere, you would have found them,” Casey pointed out. Derek shrugged, reluctantly agreeing. “Would you have put it in Mikey or Ashley’s room?” she questioned, trying to think of odd places her husband might of put the children’s gifts.

Derek shook his head.  “No, no,” he insisted, “Mikey would have found them in no time.”

Holding a hand to her stressed mind, Casey sighed. “Well, I say we looking in everything, and I mean everything,” she stressed. “I don’t care if it’s a piece of luggage or a potato chip bag, look in it,” Casey instructed.

Derek nodded and they did exactly that. They searched in and around every nook in cranny in their house. It wasn’t until they got to the basement and went through half of their boxes when Casey finally let out a cry of relief. “I found them!”

Derek rushed over to wife, happily. “Oh yeah…” he said, immediately remembering the box labeled ‘Casey’s School Books’ and putting the gifts in it a month prior. “Now I remember. I thought it would be the last place he looked considering he hates both school and books.”

“He sure is your son,” Casey noted, rolling her eyes. “Let’s just get these presents under the tree before they wake up,” she insisted, noticing through the small window nearby that the sun was beginning to rise. “Then hopefully we can get an hour or two of sleep.”

The couple took the presents up, laying them down under the tree. However, they were too exhausted and spent to make the journey back up the stairs, so they fell back on the couch close by.

“Still mad at me?” Derek asked through a yawn, his eyes growing heavy as he leaned back on their comfortable couch.

Casey didn’t answer, but instead rested her head gingerly on his shoulder. Her eyes already closed as she cuddled up to his side.

The duo quickly fell asleep, only to be woken minutes later the rumbling of their two kids barreling down the stairs excitably. “Mommy! Daddy! It’s Christmas! Get up!”

Reluctantly opening their eyes and groaning from their lack of sleep, Derek turned to his wife. “I’m mad at myself,” Derek told her, answering his question from earlier for her; she merely nodded agreeing.


	11. Christmas Comes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: This chapter is NSFW (Rated NC-17 or Mature)!

Casey walked into her shared apartment with Derek, shaking off the snow that clung to her coat and reveling in the warmth of her home.

"Derek?" she called out, putting away her coat and other accessories.

"In here!" she heard from their living room with the sound of tape being pulled and ripped off.

The eldest McDonald sibling raised an eyebrow at the noise as she walked through their mini foyer area and turned the corner into the living room. There she was greeted by a shrew of wrapping paper littered all over the ground, along with tape bunched up or sticking to various surfaces. And in the middle of it all was Derek, sitting down, smiling up at her with the most hesitant smile she had ever seen grace his face.

"Hey, Case," he greeted lightly. "How was work?"

"Why does it look like Christmas threw up in my living room?" Casey heavily questioned, completely ignoring Derek's question as she stared at the monstrosity of a mess more. "Der-ek, what are you doing?!"

The former hockey player sighed, wringing the back of his neck. "I was trying to wrap your present," he said with a shrug. "But obviously I'm not very good at that…" he added, gesturing to the clutter.

Suddenly the anger that had bottled up inside her had extinguished. "Aww, Derek," she let out, her eyes getting starry as she looked at her boyfriend lovingly. "That's so sweet."

Derek rolled his eyes at Casey's massive mood swings, though was grateful for it today.

"So…" Casey began eyeing the living room again, "did you ever get around to wrapping it?" she asked, not seeing a gift in sight.

"Yeah," Derek answered, handing her the living room's throw blanket.

Casey raised her brow, puzzled. "Derek, this is our blanket…"

Derek nodded his head, taking it from her and setting it down. "Yup, and your gift is tucked away safely inside it." When Casey gave him an incredulous look, he further explained. "I ran all out of wrapping paper and didn't have enough time to get more!"

Casey sat back on her heels, thinking for a moment, before she fell into a fit of laughter. Derek, meanwhile, was staring at her worriedly, wondering if he had finally broke her.

"I feel like I should be kinda mad about this," Casey confessed, still laughing minimally. "But this whole situation is just too funny," she continued, walking up to Derek and wrapping her arms around his neck. "I appreciate the effort though," she told him, leaning up to give him a quick kiss. "But maybe next time you should just get a bag."

He smirked, wrapping his arms tightly around her waist. "Duly noted."

"So, what did you get me?" she curiously inquired, pursing her lips.

Derek shook his head. "It's not Christmas yet. Can't tell," he said.

She lightly frowned, pouting thoughtfully. "Well…what if I worked for it?" she asked, her big blue eyes a couple shades darker than usual.

"Work for it?" Derek wondered, not quite understanding what she meant. "You were just at wor-oh!" he let out, surprised as Casey's hand felt up his penis through his sweatpants. "Damn, I've really corrupted you, haven't I?" he breathed out hotly, looking at her intensely with lust.

"Mmhmm," she hummed out, reaching up to kiss him on the lips, her teeth latching onto his bottom lip as she sucked.

" _Fuck, Case_ ," Derek let out once she trailed her lips down his neck, sucking on a spot near the bottom. His dick had already made a pretty tent in his pants and she had barely touched him.

Her hands tugged up his shirt, which he happily helped take off, watching her mesmerizingly as she felt up his chest, ghosting her fingers up and down. She took off her own shirt, her eyes half-lidded in her desire as she watched him watch her.

She knelt down on her knees, her hot tongue running along the contours of his abs, her chest consequently rubbing up against his erection. Derek let out a moan.

Casey tugged him down with her, guiding him to lay down on the floor, becoming one with the living room mess. She got on top of him, straddling him as she leaned down to kiss him fully on the lips. Her hips rocking against his own; he could barely stand it.

She smiled down at him coyly, as if she knew what she was doing to him, purposely making him crazy. She then reached behind her back as she unhooked her bra, letting her breasts fall free. Her erect nipples grazed his chest, making his dick twitch as she kiss once more.

" _Case_ ," he let out with a groan.

Smirking, her hands hoisted down his pants, right along with his boxers. The sudden chill of the air against his private made him shiver momentarily, but Casey's hot mouth quickly compensated as she went down on him.

His eyes rolled back as he felt her lips move up and down on his dick, her hands moving and coinciding with her mouth. He leaned up, looking at her head bob up and down, her breasts on full display, hanging beautifully when she raised up – he was spellbound.

She's done this to him countless of times – they had been together for a while now – but there was just something different about it this time. He sounded like a girl, but it almost felt magical with the lit Christmas tree right behind her and all the flashy wrapping paper surrounding them.

"Fuck," he let out, the pressure building, his stomach tightening. "Case, I'm close," he warned.

Only moments later he released right into Casey's mouth, his girl taking it and swallowing it like a champ. She grinned impishly as she finished, wiping an excess off the corner of her mouth that almost caused him to pop another boner.

"So," she said, her eyes still hooded as she regarded him, "can I find out what my present is?" she asked, softly, seductively.

Derek barely had words, his mind blank. "You-You can ask or do whatever you want," he said, to which she laughed, rolling her eyes.

"You're so easy."


	12. Home for Christmas

Casey was at the McDonald-Venturi residence for the holidays. The whole family were lounging nearby, watching a Christmas movie after their dinner feast. She was currently bouncing her 9-month old girl on her knee, causing the baby to giggle.  

“Your Daddy is going to be so happy to see you,” she cooed. Her husband always fawned over Jamie when he came back from away games, but considering that she had the baby wearing a mini Maple Leafs jersey was sure to up the cooing.

Her phone then buzzed – speak of the devil.

“Hey, Der,” she greeted happily, making comical faces at her daughter while she talked to her husband. “Are you about to board your flight?”

She heard Derek heavily sigh over the phone. “Case…” he started hesitantly, and her stomach dropped, her smile instantly dropping. “It snowed harder than they thought. All flights are still cancelled.”

Her throat closed up, her eyes prickling. “So, you won’t be home for Christmas?” she asked quietly, though her entire family heard and were currently staring at her sadly.

“I want to be there,” he insisted, “especially since it’s Jamie’s first Christmas, but no planes are leaving Chicago right now.”

Casey stayed silent. When he had called the day prior, telling them that a storm was burling through Chicago, cancelling many flights, she knew that it might extend to the following day. She thought she steeled herself against the possibility, but she guessed wrong as she felt a few tears slip down her eyes.

“Casey?” Derek spoke, his tone worried. “Are you still there, Princess?”

“Yeah,” she breathed out, her voice wavering. “It’s just that this will be the first time in 11 years that we’re not going to be together on Christmas …”

“Our 15-year old selves would have been ecstatic,” he joked, trying to lighten the conversation.

She managed to laugh, something only Derek could do when she was so upset. She just wished he was there to comfort her instead of miles away and in another country. “Current self really hates it,” she admitted softly.

“Me too,” he gently confessed. “Trust me, I’d rather be with my hot wife and awesome kid than with this pack of smelly bastards,” he said, referring to his teammates.

He elicited another laugh out of Casey. “Just get home to me, safely, as soon as you can,” she told him, biting her lip.

“I will,” he told her earnestly. She then heard chatter near him on the other line. “Case, I gotta go. The guys want to get something to eat. I’ll call you if anything changes.”

They then exchanged goodbyes, Casey hanging up with a sigh.

“Derek’s not coming home?” Nora asked, frowning.

“Snow was really bad down there; everything is cancelled,” she quickly explained to her family, getting up from Derek’s recliner, holding her baby girl close. “I’m going to get Jamie ready for bed,” she said, making her way up the stairs and trying to ignore the pitying stares from her family.

…

A few hours later with Jamie sleeping away in her crib, Casey ventured downstairs again, happy to see only her mother and George present.

“Jamie down?” her mother asked, patting the seat next to her, asking her to join.

Casey nodded, sitting down next to her mother, who immediately embraced her, knowing her eldest needed the comfort. “Are you okay?” Nora questioned, rubbing a soothing hand up and down her arm.

Casey let out a sigh. “Just really disappointed,” she said, smiling sadly. “I really want to make tomorrow special and document it for Jamie, but it won’t be the same without Derek here…”

“He might miss Christmas morning, but maybe he’ll be able to get home by tomorrow night,” George optimistically commented. “When Derek wants something, he gets it.”

Casey smiled to herself, remembering the 15-year-old Derek saying that to her. It had irked her to no end then, but now it was a sign of hope.

The three adults talked some more, discussing some of the past Christmases they had under the house – from the hijinks to the tearjerkers. They laughed and reminisced until the clock rang an hour too late, forcing George and Nora to go to retire to bed to be able to get up early the next morning. However, Casey was not tired in the slightest.

She got up to sit in Derek’s recliner, snuggling deep into the leather as if it would bring him closer in a way. She stared at the Christmas tree lights, blinking and illuminating the room. But no matter how bright they were, Casey still felt a sadness wash over her, causing her to let out a few more tears in the silence of the night.

She must had eventually fallen asleep, because she was abruptly woken up by the window near the TV opening slowly. Her heart immediately jumpstarted, racing fervently. She wasn’t sure what to do as she stared at a shadow climbing its way in.

Quickly grabbing the nearby remote, she threw it at the mysterious person, surprisingly hitting them right on the head.

“OW!” she heard the person let out, rubbing their forehead, where it had made contact. “What the hell? Casey?” the shadow continued, staggering into the living room.

The lights from the tree soon lit up the stranger’s face and Casey melted. “Derek?” she let out hesitantly.

“What are you, a Kevin McCallister in training?” he asked, his tone clipped with annoyance as he continued to rub his head.

Casey quickly rushed over to her husband. “Sorry!” she said, accessing the bump forming on his head, “I thought you were a burglar though! If you had called then this wouldn’t have happened!”

“If I called,” he said pointedly, “then it wouldn’t have been a surprise!”

Casey huffed, crossing her arms. “Der-ek!” she lightly hollered, but paused, looking at him strangely. “Wait…you’re home…”

“Evidently.”

Casey shook her head at his words, ignoring them. “How – How are you here? All the flights were cancelled. I even checked before bed.”

“I didn’t take a plane.” Derek smirked. “I managed to get a rental and drove.”

Casey’s eyes bugged. “You drove all the way from Chicago to London, in a blizzard?!”

Derek shrugged, waving it off. “That was only the first hour or so. Then it was nothing.”

“You’re home,” Casey repeated again, looking up at him happily.

“Did you undergo a loboto-“ he pointed out only to be interrupted by Casey kissing him.

Derek quickly hoisted her up, letting her wrap her legs around his waist possessively. He deepened the kiss, sliding his mouth over hers expertly and lavishly. “Why don’t you greet me like this every time I come home?” Derek wondered, as he placed hot kisses down her throat.

“We’d probably already have 5 kids by now if I did,” she answered breathily, chuckling slightly as she unwound her legs from his torso and slinked back down to the ground. “I’m just so happy you’re here for Christmas. Our first Christmas as a little family.”

Derek gave her a rare genuine smile as he leaned down and gave her another kiss. “I said I’d come as soon as I could,” he said, caressing her cheek. “I always get what I want.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it! Thanks for reading and I hope everyone has a happy holiday! :)

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed reading! If you have any ideas/suggestions for future one-shots, let me know! :)


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